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Google is bidding on the WRONG products: The ‘Clicked vs. Bought’ dilemma explained

Growing Ecommerce – The Retail Growth Podcast

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In this episode, Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller dismantle a massive technical flaw in Performance Max: the "Clicked vs. Bought" discrepancy.

In a keywordless world, product targeting is your main lever. But Mike reveals that Google places its bids based on the product a user clicks, while being completely blind to the product they actually buy. This means Google is often bidding on the wrong item, unaware that your user cross-shopped into a lower-margin alternative or a different brand entirely. The result? You might be hitting your ROAS targets on paper, but your actual profit is bleeding out.

The duo reveals the only technical fix for this—Conversions with Cart Data—and debates the ultimate trust exercise: is it finally time to share your Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS) with Google to bid on true profit?

About smec (Smarter Ecommerce):

At smec - Smarter Ecommerce, we specialize in transforming business goals into optimized ad campaigns. With over 16 years of experience in Google & Microsoft Ads, our intelligent software and expert services help retailers achieve superior results.

We're committed to giving you the tools and insights needed to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of digital advertising.

Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:

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Chapters

1. Intro: 1,500 kilos of concrete vs. PMax complexity (00:00:00)

2. The obsession with "New Customer Share" in PMax (00:01:48)

3. Why PMax is the wrong tool for customer acquisition (00:03:44)

4. The "Existing Customer Fallacy": Why you don't own your customers (00:07:13)

5. Thesis: PMax is an Order Acquisition Channel, not a Customer Acquisition Channel (00:13:27)

6. The Main Problem: Google bids on "Clicked" vs. "Bought" products (00:16:47)

7. Why Google doesn't care about your basket composition (00:20:26)

8. The Technical Fix: Conversions with Cart Data (00:23:45)

9. Debate: Should you share highly sensitive CoGS data with Google? (00:24:54)

10. Why the opportunity to bid on profit outweighs the risk (00:28:23)

81 episodes

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